Eleni and Jerry met in the Virgin Islands, on the island of St. Thomas to be exact, back in the fall of 1986. Eleni was opening a swimwear boutique in the Yacht Haven Marina, which at the time was the Crossroads of the Caribbean for every yacht that sailed those waters. Jerry was the primary resource for all manner of resort apparel, accessories, windsurfing and dive gear in the region, having been the first to bring many of the Surf and Outdoor Sports industry brand names to the islands. He also did a fair business consulting with land owners developing modern resort retail concepts in 26 countries and over 50 islands. That gave him a good excuse to visit and help Eleni get her shop up and running. Jerry was smitten from the first time they met, however he had to hang out and be useful for nine months before he was able to duplicate the effect with Eleni.
To make a long story short, they became a couple in the summer of 87, married in 88 and have been living and working together ever since Read more »

Eleni and Jerry met in the Virgin Islands, on the island of St. Thomas to be exact, back in the fall of 1986. Eleni was opening a swimwear boutique in the Yacht Haven Marina, which at the time was the Crossroads of the Caribbean for every yacht that sailed those waters. Jerry was the primary resource for all manner of resort apparel, accessories, windsurfing and dive gear in the region, having been the first to bring many of the Surf and Outdoor Sports industry brand names to the islands. He also did a fair business consulting with land owners developing modern resort retail concepts in 26 countries and over 50 islands. That gave him a good excuse to visit and help Eleni get her shop up and running. Jerry was smitten from the first time they met, however he had to hang out and be useful for nine months before he was able to duplicate the effect with Eleni.
To make a long story short, they became a couple in the summer of 87, married in 88 and have been living and working together ever since. Her boutique was a big success and she sold it to one of Jerry’s clients the next year and has since helped Jerry with his business. In 1989 Hurricane Hugo damaged the Virgin Islands to the extent that there was no telephone service or electricity for 6 months, so the couple moved to Florida as a temporary fix so that they could keep Jerry’s business running. Well, back in those days the islands did not have UPS or Fed Ex or a U.S. Postal Service that picked up and delivered or a telephone and electrical system that worked with any consistency. So Jerry and Eleni were quickly seduced by the ease of doing business in Florida and decided to extend the stay to12 years.
Beyond the fact that Florida was comfortable and easy to operate from, it was a far cry from the intimate atmosphere of the islands and had changed a great deal from the state Jerry had grown up in. It got to the point that Jerry, a life-long surfer, sailor, windsurfer and all around waterman, hardly ever set foot in the sea. The surf spots were all crowded beyond imagination and the ocean wasn't the pristine environment it had been in the 60s and70s, a product of 20,000,000 residents in the state. So the couple began looking for adventure elsewhere and started traveling to the mountains. After their first mountain vacation they ended up buying a place in Whistler, B.C., where they got into snowboarding, hiking and biking. When the opportunity came up in the fall of 2000 to come to Colorado on a consulting job in Telluride at The Peaks Resort, they got their first taste of Colorado. Subsequent trips in the spring and summer of '01 resulted in them buying a place in Ridgway. When 9/11 happened later that year, they decided to take it as a sign that it was time to move, so they packed up and moved from their home in Jensen Beach, Florida, to Ridgway. If you ask Eleni about it, she likes to refer to it as Jerry’s mid life crisis.
The couple spent 18 months looking around the Western Slope for a place to settle and a good piece of commercial real estate as a business location for Eleni. Grand Junction was the last place they visited but after a local realtor named Jerry Beard gave them a tour, the Grand Valley became the focus of their attentions. They found Grand Junction to be just what they were looking for. Small enough to be a relatively low key place to live, yet big enough to sustain a business. Plenty of things to keep them busy; movies, restaurants, shopping and the like. Best of all, it was close to all the outdoor activities they participated in . When the folks developing the Rimrock Marketplace called and decided that they wanted a liquor store in the complex, that more or less sealed the deal for the move to Grand Junction. Opening a liquor store was on Eleni’s radar because she had looked at several that were for sale in other areas of Colorado. Also influencing her decision was the fact that there were not any that she considered to be friendly shopping environments with good selections and helpful staffs. Hence Crossroads Wine & Spirits was born.
The couple is thrilled to be living in Grand Junction and with the response people have had to the shop. Jerry still works at managing his graphics business although most of it is now licensed out to various manufacturers. When he is in the store you will find him talking about his favorite subjects wine, liquor, beer, food, and snowboarding not necessarily in that order. Eleni runs the business with Monty Haltiner and is continually making Crossroads a better place to shop.
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